Thursday, 11 August 2016

Discover the Wonderful North Norfolk Coast.

There's a part of the country that's out of the way. A part that lots of people never visit because it's not on the road to anywhere, no big towns, no ferries to far away places, not a place of magnificent cliffs and sweeping vistas, and it's somewhere you have to travel through vast tracts of flat terrain to reach, like some intrepid explorer.
But , oh, it is wonderful once you get there!

Photo: Mary KempHunstanton Cliffs at Sunset.

Being brought up in the Midlands I've been visiting North Norfolk all my life. We've had picnics on the sands at Hunstanton, eaten crab at Cromer and walked on the prom at Sherringham, not to mention seen the Queen going home from church as we navigated the windy roads near Sandringham.Hunstanton or Brancaster in particular always seemed the default places to go for a day out, when you wanted familiarity, comfort and the feeling that childhood certainties still stand. Hunstanton with it's fish and chips, buckets and spade and gawdy funfair, and Brancaster for miles of open sands with the sea in strips, and when you walk out to the water's edge you feel as though the world is so huge and you are so small and so very, very free.

Mary KempRunning ForeverOil on canvas panel30 x 30 cm

But don't take this as a plea to visit Norfolk. I don't want you to go. I feel it's mine, I like the unfashionableness of the parts I visit and the lack of bustle on every day of the year except a hot summer holiday or the first warm day of spring.
So don't discover Norfolk, you'll love it too much than is good for you. Be warned.